Eleven horses recovering after rescue

Eleven horses recovering after rescue

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY -- Eleven horses are being nursed back to health after being rescued last week. Those horses were neglected by their owner.&nbsp;

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY -- Eleven horses are being nursed back to health after being rescued last week. Those horses were neglected by their owner.

SHARE (Society for Hooved Animal Rescue and Emergency) volunteers found them at a farm near Muncie in rural Vermilion County. They brought them to a farm in Dewey to recover.

"One of the neighbors spotted a dead horse on the property and that really accelerated our investigation," said Lori Cooper, who works with SHARE.

Cooper said SHARE had already been investigating the farm where the horses lived. But that discovery was the last straw. They finally got the owner to give the horses up and give them a second chance.

"Our vet said these are some of the worst horses he's seen in terms of condition," said Cooper. "Several had pneumonia so it was something that couldn't wait. They needed to get off that property and get medical care as soon as possible."

Two horses are blind. One of them has a clubbed foot and several are suffering from a skin condition called rain rot.

"It's actually pretty common in malnourished horses so it's not a surprise and it's something we can take care of," said Cooper. "But it's just an obvious sign of neglect and that these horses have problems."

Investigators rescued two horses from the same farm already, including one named Domino. He's doing well enough to be out with the other horses now. Volunteers hope the rest of them get better too.

"All of these horses have good personalities," said Cooper. "They are sweet horses. They want to be with people. There's no excuse for letting a horse get to this condition. It doesn't happen overnight. We're hoping they'll make a full recovery but at this point, it's too soon to tell."

The owner is not being named and she's not being charged with anything. That was part of the agreement when she gave the horses up. But Cooper said that farmer doesn't have any other livestock at her home now.

SHARE has 42 horses now. They nurse them back to health and help them get adopted.